GROUP TO PUSH FORIMMIGRATION REFORM

Coalition made up of business leaders, law enforcement

San Diego emerged Wednesday as the staging ground for a novel immigration-reform lobbying group that brings together the disparate interests of organized labor and high-tech businesses, of police chiefs and civil-liberties activists, of conservative pastors and progressive clergy.

The coalition — San Diegans United for Commonsense Immigration Reform — announced some consensus principles but gave few detailed proposals during a news conference in Sorrento Valley.

The overarching goal is to push for an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system this year. Central to the group’s campaign is a call to create a “road map to citizenship” for the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants living the United States. Another main priority is streamlining the immigration process in a “market-driven” way that “responds to the needs of business.”

“Our economy and our public safety depend upon getting it right,” said Nathan Fletcher, chairman of the coalition and a senior director of corporate development at Qualcomm, which said it has struggled to fill jobs because many highly skilled foreign workers cannot get work visas. “If we can do it here, then any city can get it done. If we can get a group of people who can step outside of their comfort zones a little ... we expect Congress to be getting it done.”

Other prime objectives for the coalition include protecting civil liberties as the federal government devises better ways to thwart illegal immigration and boost border security through smart use of technology, not by hiring more enforcement agents or erecting more fencing along the U.S.-Mexico boundary.

Indications are that President Barack Obama and Congress may take up major immigration reform in the spring or summer. Proposals could be comparable in scale to an extensive revamp of the immigration system in 1986. President Ronald Reagan approved that legislation, whose border- and workplace-security provisions have been criticized as inadequate or poorly enforced.

The new coalition will have to provide details on how to halt incentives that encourage illegal immigration if it wants to influence Congress, said Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney and a lecturer on immigration policy at the University of San Diego.

“There are all kinds of different ways to provide a path to citizenship, but how is this going to affect future illegal and legal immigration?” he asked.

Backed by the county farm bureau, the American Civil Liberties Union and the county’s sheriff and district attorney, San Diegans United bears the unmistakable imprimatur of mobile chip maker Qualcomm, whose chairman and chief executive, Paul Jacobs, met with Obama last month as the president sounded out employers and union leaders on issues including immigration.

The Wednesday news conference took place in the lobby at Qualcomm headquarters.

During the event, the coalition also announced the launch of its website, Twitter feed, Facebook page and toll-free phone number, which will transfer calls to the appropriate congressional office based on the constituent’s Zip code.

Fletcher and other supporters of San Diegans United hope to capitalize on the region’s binational dynamics — such as the world’s busiest land border crossing — and stature as a touchstone for immigration debates.